An exploration of grace, beauty, pleasure and ease

Moonstone and love notes

A special someone surprised me with this gorgeous moonstone necklace last night. Moonstone is a protective stone and since he’s traveling this weekend, I’ll happily take all the protection I can get. I don’t like being home alone and easily fall into a routine that has me up way too late watching tv, not wanting to go to bed alone in a dark scary apartment and then feeling like crap when my alarm goes off in the morning. And its all downhill from there.

Since I often ask my clients to look at situations that seem difficult and re-frame them, I decided to take my own advice by asking myself the question, “What would it look like if this weekend was totally amazing?”

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Chris will be out of town this weekend. See, he takes really good care of me when he’s here. And I’ve fallen into patterns of not taking such great care of myself lately. I’ve noticed it in my energy levels, my cravings, my weight, my sleep patterns, and my emotions. So of course he’s traveling this weekend! It gives me an opportunity to spend five whole days taking REALLY great care of myself and reconnecting with myself. See what I did there? Problem solved.

So what does totally amazing self-care look like for me? Well, I did some brainstorming and made a list. I do love a good list. For me that could mean…

Yoga classes… I often only do about 20 minutes at home and my mind and body are craving a good long class with no screen to watch

Shopping at Bloomingdale’s

Spending quality time with a friend, and quality time with just me

Getting a massage or facial

Buying myself something frivolous, a new blush or mascara or shoes

Walking around the city with no agenda

Going to a coffee shop to do some writing and reading

Writing and sending love notes

Scheduling time for Skype instead of talking on the phone with Chris

And now the next step is important! Today, I’ll take the list and schedule everything. It becomes an exciting plan to look forward to when it is scheduled vs. another “to do” list. So I’ll tell my friend I’m coming to her 6:45 restorative yoga class on Friday and I’ll make an appointment for that facial. I have a tendency to over schedule myself, so doing this in advance gives me a great opportunity to look my calendar and make sure my plans feel good and not overwhelming. Its always good to leave room for unscheduled magic to happen!

Looks like I’ve got some phone calls to make…

What does your totally amazing Valentine’s Day weekend wish list look like? Me and the moonstone are wishing you lots of protection, inspiration, good fortune, calm and balance however you’ll be spending it!